Once upon a time, Mozambique was ruled by dinosaurs Mozambicans. Except they weren’t called that. The name Mozambique came from some dude named Mussa al-biqe that was an Arab trader that lived out on the coast. The rest of Mozambique was covered with various tribes, each with their own language and culture. Sure, there were common threads with all of them the same way there for Europeans (for example, they all use the metric system, they’re all snooty and their basketball courts are shaped weird).
Then one day came the Europeans. The coast of Africa was first explored by the Portuguese sailor Vasco de Gama (15th century).
On behalf of the Empire of Portugal he went around seeking places that would be profitable for colonization. Mozambique was an attractive place to settle because of its already semi-established coastal trading network developed by the Arabs. So, Portugal decided to set up shop. As a result, Mozambique now boasts the oldest European made buildings anywhere in the world outside of Europe
After a hundred years there was really nothing going in Mozambique. Mainly it was because the Queen in Portugal married the King from Spain and then some stuff went down and it got really crazy. Let’s just say there was enough drama to fill a lifetime of soap operas (or at least an HBO series that nobody will really watch). Finally, the Portuguese army had managed to set up forts and trading posts around coastal cities, inland cities like in our town of Nampula, and up the Zembezi river which bisects the country. But the going got tough, because the Portuguese didn’t find what they were looking for.
Ultimately, the Portuguese were looking for gold and a way to start a trading empire. The land had no gold or diamonds like South Africa, the Congo, or the Ivory Coast. This what only a minor setback, because they soon learned that dealing in human cargo could be just as profitable. Human cargo meaning slavery.
When they got in to Africa, they found that the tribes there were already dealing slaves, often bounty from raiding other tribes. Once the Europeans showed up offering top dollar, the demand skyrocketed and all of a sudden you have several hundred ugly years of history. The Portuguese brought them to places in the West Indies as well as Brazil. They eventually ended up exporting more than 4 millions Africans to support their growing empire.
Eventually, when slavery was outlawed in the 19th century, Portugal found that they were losing money keeping up their colonial efforts in Mozambique. So what did they do? They privatized colonialism.
Yah, it was pretty much like that.
Led by mainly British financiers, companies that performed “trading” and “exploration” received charters in the back half of the 19th Century. People like Cecil Rhodes came and invested in railroad networks while other companies invested in agriculture or mining. They maintained and developed ports as well as used their slave-like labor to produce food and keep Mozambique a mainly agrarian society with absolutely no industry. These companies maintained their control from about 1850 give-or-take a decade (there was so much going on then I just lost track of when it started) until about 1920. Attempts to develop industry in Mozambique failed and the charter companies relied mainly on agriculture to turn a profit. However, a shift in the economy at the end of WWII induced a change in Portuguese Royal policy towards the charter companies. At the same time, there was an increasing number onf conflicts between the Mozambicans and the colonial companies own private security forces.
Again, it was pretty much like that.
Come back and join us next time when discover Mozambique’s role in the Cold War (hint: it was super small).
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